HMV to launch music download service
08:54 Tuesday 27th August 2002
Reuters
The UK retailer is the latest to attempt to cash in on the ongoing Internet music craze
Music retailer HMV Group is expected to announce this week the launch of a subscription digital music service to capitalise on the consumer craze for downloading music from the Internet, sources say.
HMV, in which music label EMI Group holds a 14.5 percent stake, is expected to announce as soon as Tuesday that it will be the first British music chain to launch a subscription music service from its Web site, www.HMV.co.uk.
The anticipated launch date is early September.
The retailer will team with On Demand Distribution (OD2), a British technology firm co-founded by recording artist Peter Gabriel, to make nearly 100,000 tracks from such acts as Elvis Presley and Kylie Minogue available to British users of its site.
Under the arrangement, users will pay a monthly subscription of £4.99 entitling them to a certain number of playbacks. They can also download the music to their computer hard drives or personal listening devices, the sources said.
OD2 provides music download technology for a variety of Internet firms including UK ISP Freeserve, Italy's Tiscali and Microsoft's Web portal MSN.
The recording industry has been stung by the success of free online file-swapping services such as Kazaa and Morpheus MusicCity and the growing popularity of consumers copying, or "burning", music onto recordable CDs.
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